


What else is left to say?

by Phillindashipperalltheway



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Awkward Situation, F/M, Phil Coulson is alive and not an LMD - Freeform, Phil and Melinda have the patience of a saint, Team as Family, this family is just embarrassing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:54:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27165535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phillindashipperalltheway/pseuds/Phillindashipperalltheway
Summary: Addition to my first story "One hell of a day"Phil and the rest of the team take Audrey`s offer and go to one of her concerts. What they didn`t thought of was that Audrey wasn`t the only one who thought Phil Coulson dead.
Relationships: Leo Fitz/Jemma Simmons, Phil Coulson/Melinda May
Comments: 6
Kudos: 22





	What else is left to say?

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there! Because I had to stay home, because you know this damn pandemic, I was bored out of my mind and there isn't much to do. In my country the whole Corona situation gets worse every day and everyone is fearing a second look down. Due to Corona I lost my job and it's hard to find a new one these days, so I just have more time than usual to think and write and it is a good time killer. Actually it isn't normal that I post almost every day and if I am lucky that will stop soon because I get a new job but until then, please enjoy this one!

Satisfied Audrey lent back and put her cello away.

“ Folk, that was awesome!” the maestro called and clapped his hands.  
Audrey smiled. Of course it was awesome but before the concert you can never say that for sure. And musicians do tend to have a tendency for exaggeration and a little drama so you can't really expect a calm preparation. But Audrey loved it. She loved the hectic, turbulent but in a way ordinary chaos that always ensued before big concerts like the one they just gave.

“Hey Audrey” her co musician and first cello Liza called her way “What about a few drinks? I think we definitely earned it”   
“That you did” maestro Carlo said instead of her “Come on ladies,I spent a few rounds. Well, one round”

Audrey grinned and nodded “I have time. My fiance is still traveling so I would only be alone in my house” Liza arched an eyebrow at her “You surely have a thing for travelling men”, she mumbled. Audrey was sure that wasn't meant for her ears because Liza still tiptoed around the `Phil topic`Even if it was years and years back, Liza still didn't mention the name of her late boyfriend (or not so late anymore but that was just for her to know) in front of her. Not that Audrey could blame her for that. She was a mess at that time, barely able to leave her house, let alone go to rehearsals or play concerts. Liza was her oldest friend, she knew her from college and the fact that they were still friends was a little miracle. Still, her best friend didn't know all of the things that happened in her life like the incident with her superpowered stalker and her secret agent boyfriend who died and came back from the dead and now was happily married with three kids and a grandchild.   
The official version of the whole Daniel thing back then was that she simply had a crazy stalker who was taken care off by the police. Phil introduced himself as a police officer from a special department to her friends and family and that worked well. Everyone liked him, Liza in particular who had a small crush on him and there was no reason to question the official version.

“It's always so nice to go out in your evening dress” Audrey said sarcastically. Liza shrugged  
“It gives you higher chances on the men” she giggled “Well, at least for me. Or so I hope”  
“Yeah, just let`s go” Audrey clapped her friend on the shoulder, grabbed her cello case and followed Carlo and Liza out of the concert hall.  
Before she could went on to the entrance doors, a familiar voice stopped her.

“Miss Nathan!”   
Audrey turned and upon seeing who had called her she grinned warmly.

“Dr. Fitz, Dr. Simmons and little Alya! What a nice surprise!” The little family strode towards her with big smiles on their faces and even before they reached Audrey and her two companions, the little girl began to speak.

“That was so nice!”, she exclaimed excitedly “All the instruments and you played so well together and I could hear your cello and that was so beautiful and the man who stood before you and made the funny gestures with his hand!” Audrey laughed at that.

“Little lady, that is called ` to direct`. Without me, these bunch of instruments wouldn't know what to do” Carlo chastised her gently and in good humor. Next to her, Liza made a sound half laughing, half snorting.

“Smart girl. You know what? You are right, it is funny to watch the big maestro do his hand thing”

Alya nodded and went on with her talking “We came here tonight because I want to learn an instrument. All my family can at least play one instrument, Auntie Yoyo even three!”

“ Nobody can confirm that” Dr. Fitz grumbled.  
His daughter ignored him and just went on “And Grandpa said it would be a good idea to come here tonight so I can see all the instruments all at once and hear them and so I can decide what to learn. And you know what? I think I want to learn the cello! It's big but so soothing!”

Liza gave her a thumbs up. “ An excellent choice, little one” Carlo nodded along with her.

But Audrey was more focused on what the excited girl had said before her reveal of what instrument she wanted to learn.

“Your Grandpa is here, too?” she asked and looked in alarm to her parents. Dr. Simmons seemed to get the meaning behind her words and with knitted eyebrows she spared a glance over her shoulder.

“Well, he should be but he went to the toilet”, she said and then nudged her husband in the rips to catch his attention. “And it's late, we really should go”

But before anyone of them could react any further, noises filled the hallway and quickly a group of people came around the corner. Audrey didn't recognize one of them but by the wild wave Alya sent their way they belonged together.

The small group of people stopped by the little family and one really tall, black, skin headed man spoke up.

“You must be Miss Nathan”, he said in a deep, calm voice “That was an excellent concert, really beautiful”

Audrey smiled but it was Carlo who answered for her, again. “Thank you, we appreciate every compliment we get but who are you folks?” He and Liza were surveying the people in front of them warily. 

Alya jumped up and down and gestured to the group of people.

“That is my family”, she helpfully explained “That is my uncle Mack with my auntie Yoyo, they are married like my parents, and my uncle Daniel with my auntie Daisy, they will be married soon and my auntie Kora and my uncle Hunter with my auntie Bobbi. They are married for the second time” for each name she listened she pointed to one of the people in front of her.

Each one of them grinned and gave a little wave. 

“Good job, little monkey. But your mother is right, it's late and you belong in the bed” her father scooped her up into his arms.

“Well, nice to meet you” Liza said “As cellist we don't get many fans, so it's nice to know that you enjoyed our concert”

“It was amazing,” one of the men Alya introduced mere seconds ago, said. He stood next to a tall, blonde woman.

“ Thank …” Carlo began but stopped abruptly when something ahead of them caught his eye. He went pale like a sheet and his mouth hung open.   
Next to her, Liza caught the same thing that Carlo saw but opposed to the maestro she didn't go limp, she started screaming.

Everyone was startled and wildly looked around to what caused the extreme reactions of the two musicians. 

“What, what happened? Did they see a spider?” the man next to the blonde woman called and frantically jumped from one foot to the other. The blonde woman remained calm and put a hand on his shoulder.

“ I doubt that. Not even you would react in that way to a tiny spider” she said.

Audrey instinctively knew what caused this havoc.

In any other situation she would be happy to see Phil again, after all she kind of invited him to one of her concerts, but now he couldn't have chosen a worse moment to join his family.

The warm smile on his handsome face faded away and changed into a confused thrown.

“What is going on?” he asked alarmed “Is everything alright with you guys? Did Hunter see a spider?”

His wife, Melinda appeared by his side and calmly looked around. Her searching gaze slided from her family to Audrey and stopped on the shell shocked maestro and the heavy breathing Liza.   
Audrey saw that she immediately understood the situation.  
Her lightly alarmed expression changed into one of resignation, like she was about to attend a scene she did her best to just go over with.

“Very funny, as if spiders couldn't be big and scary”, the man next to the tall blonde, Hunter apparently, said in a sour tone at the exact same time as Liza raised a shakily finger and pointed it towards Phil and shouted in a trembling voice

“You are dead! Phil Coulson is dead!”

Now Phil turned his head to her little group and Audrey couldn't do much except for flashing him a small, embarrassed smile.

His confused family on the other hand relaxed at Liza`s outburst and their faces morphed from frantically to understanding. And amused if Audrey read a few facials correctly.

“Ah, that is it all about”, Mack mumbled. The woman with long brown braids at his side grinned shyly. “We should have put that in consideration beforehand” she whispered to him in an spanish sounding accent.

“What. The Hell. Is going. On?!” Carlo demanded in a low, dark voice. He didn't scream like Liza but Audrey could see that he was pretty shaken himself.

“Uhh”, Phil cleared his voice. “Well … I mean …to make a long story short, I am not so dead anymore and my death was necessary to … complete a long and dangerous undercover mission”

Silence followed his words then:

“Do you know what you did? Do you have the slightest idea of what your death had done to Audrey?!” Liza seemed to get over her initial shock as she now took up an angry step towards Phil and pointed her finger accusingly at him.

Phil looked at her apologetic and hiked his shoulders up. He stuffed his hands in his pant pockets. Audrey noticed that he really looked good in his formal wear, but then again suits always fitted him perfectly.

“I know and I am sorry for the pain I caused Audrey. That never was my intention. But I talked to Audrey and we sought things out” That seemed to put a damper on Liza`s anger.  
She turned back to Audrey and looked at her confused and shocked.

“You knew?” she asked in disbelief. Audrey shrugged.

“Well, yes. I knew. But not for a very long time” Liza stared at her open mouthed.

Carlo took over for her. But not with angry shouting or accusingly raised fingers. He did something Audrey never thought he was able to or bold enough to do.

He simply walked up to Phil and just punched him in the face. 

Phil looked surprised rather than hurt and he raised his hands in surrender.

In hindsight Audrey guessed that the punch didn't hurt him at all, it was more likely that Carlo bruised his fingers more badly than Phil his nose, after all Carlo was a man with music as his profession and Phil a former secret agent who was trained to withstand unbelievable pain. 

And before anyone could do much more than just gasping in disbelief, Liza followed Carlo`s example and slapped Phil across his face.  
His reaction didn't change much. He just looked at the two humans before him apologetic and raised his hands in surrender.

“Okay, I guessed I deserved that. But to be honest, I expected Audrey to react that way not you”

The reactions from his family behind him were equally nonchalant, if not more so.

Audrey saw a few grinning faces, like a totally funny scene was playing out in front of them, and the blonde woman along with the brown braided one even chuckled quietly while Hunter was silently shaking with laughter.

Even his wife seemed to be pretty unfaced by the fact that her husband was attacked by total strangers.

But then again, as spies they probably faced more harming situations and they probably wouldn't have described the slap of a middle aged man and a scrawny musician woman as an attack.

Phil didn't even flinch one bit when Carlo's fist landed on his nose and Liza`s palm across his face.

“Hey, guys”, Audrey intervened. “ It's okay, really. Yes, it was a jackass thing to do from Phil and yes, it hurt. But he didn't ask for it, either and from what I understood, he paid a high price for that. And anyways, it's so long ago now, let the past be in the past”

“Hear, hear” one of Phil`s family members mumbled.

Her two coworkers and friends turned to her and looked at her like she just exclaimed she wanted to live as an outlaw from now on.

“You can't be serious”, Liza said “That was it? You just let him into your life again, just like that?”

Audrey shook her head. To be honest, their actions touched her. They're trying to defend her and keep her safe. Carlo and Liza were one of the reasons she got over Phil`s death in the first place.

“No. He isn't a part of my life now. At least not like he used to be. But after we talked, we came to the conclusion that we can stay friends. Phil always liked to hear me play and if he wanna show his grandkid how amazing an orchestra sounds, so be it. He is always welcome at my concerts”

“His GRANDKID?”, Carlos asked disbelievingly.

“I am a grandkid” Alya exclaimed from her father's arm proudly.  
“Shh, monkey, not now”

“Wait. Does that mean he has children now? And a wife or something?” Liza again gazed at Phil and now at the group behind him more closely.

“Who is the wife?” Phil pointed at Melinda at Liza`s question.

Liza took a step up to her and for a moment Audrey feared that she would slap her, too. She wasn't fearing for Melinda but for Liza. She just knew it would be a bad, bad move to raise your hand against this tiny, asian woman.

Instead Liza just stared at her intently, not that Melinda was intimidated by that or bothered in the slightest. 

“She is beautiful”, Liza said while turning back to Audrey. Phil smiled softly “That she is”

Liza ignored him. “But you are more beautiful”

“That is debatable,” said one of the women from behind him. Phil and Melinda just rolled their eyes.

“ I don't think your comment is appreciated, Daisy”  
“Shut the fuck up, Kora”

“Language, Dais” Phil called gently over his shoulder.

“Yeah, we talked about swearing in front of our daughter” Dr. Simmons added.

Audrey put a hand on Liza`s shoulder.

“ That's very nice of you. All of it. But like I said, the past is in the past and I moved on. You helped me to move on, so please just drop that”

Liza squinted her eyes at her.

“ I really liked your Phil, you know that I even had a crush on him, but now I don't know if I can ever look him in the eyes again. Even if his eyes are as beautiful as ever and he is looking damn good in his formal wear!”

“Uhh, wow, that are some words” Hunter smugly exclaimed.  
“Yeah, how many women have a crush on him?”  
“I don't understand it, either, Kora”  
Phil turned to them. “Okay, that is enough. All of you, go!”

His family gasped in unison and Audrey found this whole situation just bizarre, even more bizarre than the first time she ran into a living Phil.

“But I want to see this,” Hunter pouted.

That was when Melinda stepped in. She just said one word.

“Go!”  
It was the first thing she said since this whole fiasco started, but her voice was strong, sharp and commanding and left no space for objection.

And everyone of the Coulson family turned around and made their way back to the entrance, grumbling and muttering but without one word of protest.  
Dr. Fitz and Dr. Simmons as well as Mack waved her goodbye and sent her one last smile.

When all of them had left and silence fell over the remaining people, Audrey squeezed Liza`s shoulder and reached her hand out to Carlo.

She looked at them and she couldn't help but feel a wave of affection for these two people who were such a big, important part of her life. Who helped her in so many ways.  
Carlo with his grumpy but funny personality who loved the music and wine and his musicians and was so more patiently than some of his colleagues could ever be and to whom Audrey looked up as a mentor and saw as a father figure.  
Liza, her best friend who stayed by her side even in her darkest hours. Who helped her to grieve and get over it with her quirky, flirtatious, snarky and spirited personality. Liza introduced her to Tom, the man she was going to marry.

“You don't have to interact with Phil, nobody is asking you that. But please just accept the fact that I accepted it and put it behind me. There are no hard feelings from me towards him and I don't see any reasons as to why give him a hard time now. I am happy now, with my life, my career and my upcoming wedding. So let's just drop it, okay?”

Carlo squeezed her hand back and grumbled something unintelligible towards Phil and Liza simply shot him one last dirty look before her features turned softer and a light smile pulled at the corners of her mouth.

“Well, like I said, I always was a fan of yours, Phil. You`re simply too good looking to be angry at you for long, I don't know how your wife handle angry situations with you”

Phil grinned embarrassed. “She does it rather good”, he muttered and that earned him a hard clap on his arm. “Ouch” he rubbed his right arm. “Next time hit the left one” Melinda shot him a look and Phil closed his mouth.

Carlo shrugged. “In the end it's your business, Audrey. But now I need more than a few drinks”

He grumbled something like “I am too old for this anyway” and then simply left the hall.

Liza stayed with her, of course she did and Audrey knew it would be harder to get her to leave. Not that she wanted that.

“So”, Liza began “You are married, Phil. What a shame” Phil looked at her funny and then looked at his wife who simply shrugged her strong looking shoulders.

They shared a look and Audrey got the feeling that an entire conversation was held in this one look.

Phil turned back to them and his familiar, ever present little smile was back in his features.

“Well, I imagined our second meeting a little differently but it was good to see you, again Audrey. And you, too Liza” 

“You know my name?” Liza swooned but Phil didn't catch that. Typical Liza!

“Of course, you are Audrey`s best friend after all” Phil smiled at her, too and Liza simply stared at him.

“I am glad you enjoyed the concert, Phil. And please tell your grandkid that she did make an excellent choice for her instrument. If you need any more advice, don't hesitate to contact me. After all I am an expert for cellos”

“Me too” Liza threw in.

“We keep that in mind” Phil said. Then he laid his right arm around Melinda`s shoulders and turned to leave.

“Good night!” he called and Melinda nodded at them before they disappeared out the doors.

Liza took a deep breath, along with Audrey who felt a headache coming.

“Carlo is right. I need more than a few drinks now”  
Audrey agreed with her friend. “Yeah, definitely” 

What else is left to say?

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed it! Every comment it whatever way is highly appreciated and I just love this fandom and you guys!


End file.
